Tommy Ramsay's blog

Record of Observation or Review of Teaching Practice   

Session/artefact to be observed/reviewed: CCW FAD (Foundation Art and Design) Painting  

Size of student group: 2 x 1:1 tutorials  

Observer: John O’Reilly 

Observee: Tommy Ramsay 

Part One 

What is the context of this session/artefact within the curriculum? 

This is a one-to-one tutorial which happens weekly with students. The students have just had a week off to use as a reading week to prepare for writing their Project Plans and Action Plans for the Final Major Project. In the afternoon students will be partaking in a crit, so tutorials will not be focused on discussing studio-based work as per usual.  

How long have you been working with this group and in what capacity? 

I have been working with students in this group from the beginning of part 2, in November as their tutor. 

What are the intended or expected learning outcomes? 

The intended outcomes of these tutorials will be to discuss any new work by the students’ briefly, to take stock of the work that they have made up to this point and to discuss their plans for the Final Major Project. I will aim to offer up further references for them to work with and to respond to any concerns or points of discussion that the student brings up.  

What are the anticipated outputs (anything students will make/do)? 

Students to have a clear understanding of the timeline that they are working with for the FMP. For students to feel that whilst time is short, they do still have time to extend their current enquiries and not to feel pressured into making a final work immediately. Tutorials will be based around planning for the FMP and catching up with how their ideas are taking shape. 

Are there potential difficulties or specific areas of concern? 

Other students hammering in nails to put work up for the crit in the afternoon. Students feel pressured by the FMP timeline – they had received an incorrect email from another staff member saying they had ten weeks for FMP, instead of the five they have… 

How will students be informed of the observation/review? 

Students were told of the observation’s potential in the last week before the break in person and over email during the break. 

What would you particularly like feedback on? 

Any areas of improvement for engaging students, how I am holding space for students e.g. am I am being too vocal/how the balance is when discussing ideas. 

Part Two 

Observer observations, suggestions and questions: 

A Pedagogy of the fluid  

The studio workspace is really busy, fluid, full of sensory information: students painting and making, hammering nails in the wall to hang work, even the in-between spaces such as the corridors are busy with students at work too which is where Tommy meets his student for his first tutorial.  

Tommy is responsive to the affective dimension of the reading-week break, the upcoming crit, the portfolio gathering for applications to art schools. There are different psychological time horizons that students often bring to the table, and Tommy is creative in responding to the student needs that emerge with each.  

Tommy sits and chats with the student about the break, the student discloses she feels rushed about her work, and then there’s the Goldsmiths course she’s applied to. There is a lot of information being shared, factual and emotional. She shares work she had has made, it’s in images on her phone. Tommy reassures her about it, highlighting the atmospheric quality of the work, a judgement which hits the mark as she says, “funny, it is called About Atmosphere”. She talks about the action plan.  

Tommy is skilful at sensing when different kinds of responses are being invited, from pastoral re-assurance, to clarifying deadline issues, to the inspiration of art historical references and he makes suggestions for artists who will generate creative input, such as Edward Hopper, “for the cinematic feel”, and some artists in a show opening at the Lisson Gallery. In a non-prescriptive way, Tommy is also practicing a loose form of creative direction.  The show is only just opening, and that ‘on-trend’ quality excites the student and she follows up by telling him she is considering doing studies of places around CSM (Central St Martins) and King’s Cross. She is a very eloquent student and Tommy gives lots of space for her to try out her thinking in conversation.  

The student says she is well prepared for the location drawing, has made notes to remind herself to document how she feels, writing keywords. Tommy follows up with specific examples of artists and writers to make and think with: De Chirico’s piazzas, “they have an uncanny quality”; Richard Diebenkorn’s Ocean Park series from California that are about light. Tommy sketches and describes the colour. Highlighting how her work is concerned with everyday spaces he directs her towards Michel De Certeau’s Practice of Everyday Life, and George Perec’s Species of Spaces.  Great examples and Tommy also demystifies the mythologies of academic reading practices suggesting they might be read on the bus.   

He brings the tutorial to a conclusion reminding the student of her strengths and the timeline – “You have lots of strings to your bow, and remember you do work quickly.”  

The other student brings a different kind of makings, presence, and practices to the tutorial, and Tommy’s pedagogic practice shifts and flexes. The student is quieter, gives over the space more which can be difficult to know what to do with, and doesn’t think she has enough work to present for the crit. Tommy observes, “I don’t think that’s true, you have plenty of ideas and examples.” He notes the variety of her work, the painting, etching, ceramics and how to build a portfolio. Tommy’s intervention is a reminder that for students lacking confidence pedagogy is sometimes the skill of identifying and making visible the knowledges the student has produced. A potentially uncertain space becomes mutually constructed.  

Admiring of the surreal rabbit sculpture the student has created, pointing out the markings, the detail, Tommy checks that she has taken photos which document the making process. He registers her creative process, “Just like your painting, you got into the making of this.” There is something really valuable for a student having guidance from someone who understands and recognises how you work. “Are you continuing with your painting?” She says yes. “Once the process is over you will be surprised…letting things just happen is part of the process.” There are so many lessons here about trusting a practice, about allowing the work to emerge, especially with a student who has done the research and arrived at an original take. There are so many different kinds of teaching interventions Tommy has to make in such a short time – it is dense, complex and shared with creative generosity.   

#flexibility #activelistening #inspirations 

FYI 

Orr, S., & Shreeve, A. (2017) ‘Teaching practices for creative practitioners’, Art and design pedagogy in higher education: Knowledge, values and ambiguity in the creative curriculum. Taylor and Francis Group 

Orr, S., & Shreeve, A. (2017) ‘Realising the curriculum in art and design: The role of the project’, Art and design pedagogy in higher education: Knowledge, values and ambiguity in the creative curriculum. Taylor and Francis Group 

Part Three 

Observee to reflect on the observer’s comments and describe how they will act on the feedback exchanged: 

John’s feedback is very kind and very aware of all the details that go into these tutorials. It is really nice and helpful to see the unspoken and hidden exchanges that take place in tutorials written down and noticed.  

The two students that John observed me with are two quite different characters that do ask for different spaces to be held for them. One is a very confident speaker and eloquent and excited when discussing her work, the other is quieter, less forthcoming, and less confident when discussing her work. One of my main concerns as a teacher is to be receptive to the different needs of each student and to be able to shift my energies as required. It is valuable and affirming for me to have this noticed by John. 

Going forward, I feel that I can be more confident and, in some ways, more relaxed for tutorials with students. I want to work on allowing moments of pause in conversation with students to come up and to not feel the need to push the conversation. John’s observation gives me the confidence to continue holding space for students and to trust my own reading of what a student needs from me, 

Record of Observation or Review of Teaching Practice   

Session/artefact to be observed/reviewed: CCW FAD (Foundation Art and Design) Painting  

Size of student group: 2 x 1:1 tutorial  

Observer:   Amba Sayal-Bennett 

Observee: Tommy Ramsay 

Part One  

What is the context of this session/artefact within the curriculum? 

These will be one-to-one tutorial which happens weekly with each student. 

How long have you been working with this group and in what capacity? 

I have been working with this student from the beginning of part 2, in November. 

What are the intended or expected learning outcomes? 

The intended outcomes of this tutorial will be to discuss the students’ work, offer further references for them to work with and to respond to any concerns or points of discussion that the student brings up.  

What are the anticipated outputs (anything students will make/do)? 

It is likely that the student will be given further artists’ or writers to research and due to the time of year, if it comes up, to further discuss and look at their portfolio and applications for BA. 

Are there potential difficulties or specific areas of concern? 

There are no difficulties anticipated. 

How will students be informed of the observation/review? 

Students were told of the observation’s verbally last week and over email. 

What would you particularly like feedback on? 

Any areas of improvement for engaging students. 

How will feedback be exchanged? 

Verbally and over this form.

Part Two 

Observations by Amba

General  

Your manner with the students is very engaging. You have a familiar and approachable way of talking, which made the students feel comfortable speaking to you about their work.  

Engagement  

In both the one-to-one tutorials, the two students were clearly very engaged. You left space for the students to share what they were working on, responding to their studio work in situ to draw out a conversation around their work. I thought you made a good balance in your mode of questioning. In the second tutorial, you refrained from asking direct questions to the student. Instead, you made observations as prompts for the student to elaborate on. This created an openness to the discussion, and left space for the student to direct the conversation in a way that felt more relevant to them. In both tutorials, towards the end of the conversation, you asked if they had any questions, in particular about project deadlines and wider deadlines outside of course, such as portfolio requests and BA interviews.  

Teaching and supporting learning  

The teaching methods were appropriate to the studio context, and the feedback given was specific to each student. In the discussions, there was a good balance between work done, where to move on from, and suggestions for what needs to be done going forward. You followed up on previous tutorials and referred back to older works to give specific examples. I thought the suggestion to look back at what they had done in Part 2 to mine the history of their practice, to think about the direction the final major project may take, was particularly useful. This gave the students a clear method and direction, whilst maintaining space for independence and heuristic learning.  

Asking one of the students to clarify their plans for their work created an opportunity for them to articulate and better understand their interests, mapping and talking through options with support on hand.  

You were very encouraging in terms of getting them to think about trying new methods, suggesting they focus on testing and trying things out rather than being preoccupied with the outcome. You were also very encouraging when explaining the usefulness of self-led projects and the paperwork/ organisation around them. You suggested that the paperwork should not be viewed as ‘scary’ but rather a useful tool, like Workflow, which provided another practical method to keep track of ideas and development.  

Reminders were given in both tutorials, such as relevant information for upcoming crits, what to do over reading week, and what needed to be handed in after the break. Reiterating deadlines ensures that sure students are aware of when and what they need to submit.  

Relevant artist references, as well as current exhibitions, were given to students in both tutorials demonstrating an understanding of the students’ practices. You explained their relevance to the students and described process and methods within their practice, at one point drawing a diagram to demonstrate how the stretcher was made.  

The aims were achieved in the teaching activities- offering relevant artist references for them to draw upon, responding to interests and concerns, and discussing their progression plans and BA applications.  

Part Three 

Observee to reflect on the observer’s comments and describe how they will act on the feedback exchanged: 

It was nice to have Amba sit in on the tutorials, and her energy added to the relaxed atmosphere with the students, which I appreciated. I think the students also found it amusing that I am being observed as a student as well, which was fun.  

I am really grateful for Amba’s kind and detailed feedback. As a tutor in painting, my days are spent one to one with the students’ giving tutorials and there is not a great deal/any oversight of how this is going. Whilst I do feel comfortable and confident in my ability to perform in this role, it is great to have affirmative feedback. 

Receiving the written feedback is useful and the languaging of the feedback also makes me aware of teaching bias – to always push student towards experimentation and trying out new things. This does give me something to reflect on because of course this is not the easiest way to function for students initially, but I do feel in the long run it gives them the best chance of accessing freedom and discovering new ways of thinking and working in their practice. 

Whilst Amba was in the muted position of observer I did also think it would be nice from time to time for students to have two tutors to discuss their work to create a more varied and dynamic conversation. 

Record of Observation or Review of Teaching Practice   

Session/artefact to be observed/reviewed: Final Major Project seminar groups Drawing and Conceptual Practice FAD (Foundation Art and Design) CCW 

Size of student group: Total group size = 18 students, each seminar group= 6 students 

Observer: Tommy Ramsay 

Observee: Amba Sayal-Bennett 

Note: This record is solely for exchanging developmental feedback between colleagues. Its reflective aspect informs PgCert and Fellowship assessment, but it is not an official evaluation of teaching and is not intended for other internal or legal applications such as probation or disciplinary action. 

Part One 
Observee to complete in brief and send to observer prior to the observation or review: 

What is the context of this session/artefact within the curriculum? 

The seminar groups are scheduled in Part 3 so that students can meet each week to share their progress and help support each other through the FMP. I will lead the first seminar group, and then these will continue weekly self-managed by the students. The seminars are informal and supportive sessions which will last for an 1hour. In this first session, students will be sharing their ideas and plans. We will discuss each student’s project for 10 minutes. This will give students the chance to hear about each other’s work, give peer to peer feedback and make suggestions.  

How long have you been working with this group and in what capacity? 

I have been working with this group since the beginning of Part 2, in mid-November, as the Interim Specialist Option Leader, delivering workshops, seminars, tutorials and carrying out assessments to support students with their studio practice.  

What are the intended or expected learning outcomes? 

Through the seminar discussion, students will communicate ideas informing their work, contextualize their interests, and receive relevant references and suggestions for how to develop their projects. 

What are the anticipated outputs (anything students will make/do)? 

Students will give and receive feedback on their plans for the Final Major Project- this could be in the form of artist and text references, materials, and processes to use.  

Are there potential difficulties or specific areas of concern? 

Student participation and encouraging the students to give feedback on each other’s work so that it is not predominantly me talking. 

How will students be informed of the observation/review? 

Students will be notified in the morning about the observation.  

What would you particularly like feedback on? 

Student engagement and ways to encourage participation.  

How will feedback be exchanged? 

Verbally and through the ROT form. 

Part Two 

Observations of Amba’s teaching from me

General  

You have a relaxed confidence to your teaching and a gentleness with how you hold space for students. Students seemed comfortable and engaged when discussing their work with you. 

Engagement  

In the five-person group tutorials, four students would listen, whilst one student discussed their ideas with you. I thought this set up worked really well and students were engaged, both when listening and when presenting their work. I thought the that the atmosphere around the table was one of quiet listening and engagement.  

You asked excellent questions that helped students to push the discussion around their ideas further and it was clear that you have tracked the progress of your students and that you are engaged with their making and their ideas. This allowed discussion to flow easily and for students to feel comfortable and open when discussing their ideas. There was a good balance between asking questions about the ideas in the work and in the making of the work as well referencing previous work from each student. 

I though the reference points that you offered up for each student where absolutely on point and covered contemporary artists’ as well as writers and “thinkers.” I found myself really hoping that the students would go away and research your offerings! 

Teaching and supporting learning  

The teaching methods implemented were appropriate to the group tutorials context. Feedback offered to each student was relevant and will engage students further with their own making.  

Questioning the medium of the work of one of the students and whether they were going to make his own VR space allowed them to engage further with their own plans and to think through their ideas with the group.  

There was a good balance of discussion about previous work as well as where and how to take the FMP work forward. 

Reminders of deadlines given to students made sure that students were aware of when and what they need to submit for the FMP. 

Highly relevant artist references were offered to students in all tutorials which really showed your comprehension of each student’s individual thinking and making. Students felt comfortable and confident discussing their ideas with you.

Part Three 

Observee to reflect on the observer’s comments and describe how they will act on the feedback exchanged: 

Thank you for all the feedback and comments Tommy, they have been very useful and generative. The observations were an interesting and enjoyable experience, and great for the students to see us as learners. Reflecting on both our ROT forms, I did wonder if it was harder to be critical, as the context and style of our studio teaching is so similar? I definitely felt that this familiarity created a blind spot for me in terms of offering suggestions and questions. In regards to how I will act on the feedback exchanged: 

General  

Small group size: It is really encouraging to hear that you thought that the students were comfortable and engaged. Reflecting on other instances where students have discussed their work with their peers, I wonder if the reduced size of the group was something that made students feel more relaxed? The small table discussion gave them an opportunity to share work in progress without having to address the whole group, which may have been more intimidating. Students were perhaps also less likely to tire from listening, which can happen when moving from student to student in larger group sizes. In this format, attention is more concentrated in the shorter session and more evenly distributed, unlike longer sessions where group fatigue can set in before the last person presents. Working with smaller groups is something that I will continue to do and test out in other settings such as crits.  

Engagement  

The session that you observed was the first of the group seminars. This was to be moderated by a tutor before the group would self-organize, meeting independently each week and running the seminars themselves. The aim was to generate a sense of responsibility and ownership over their learning through sharing experiences and constructive advice (Brooks, 2008). I have reflected on your comment that there was clear engagement in the session. However, since then, they have been reluctant to organize the seminars unless prompted by a tutor. I wonder if this indicates the need for more support in the independent seminars, possibly through suggested scheduling and worksheets with prompt questions. The following methods are ways to support independent organization following the first seminar, and hopefully to generate confidence and engagement at this transitional stage between a-level and degree (Ballinger, 2002).  

Written questions: You mentioned that that the atmosphere around the table was one of quiet listening and engagement. To increase feedback from students so that they are less reliant on tutors’ comments, posit-notes could be used to share questions and suggestions. This worked successfully in a crit setting, increasing equal participation by anonymising questions, and also functioning as a way to record feedback for the presenting student to take away and reflect on.  

Worksheet with prompt questions: You commented that I was able to ask questions that helped students push the discussion around their ideas further. It would be good to find ways to enable students to ask more relevant questions to each other. I could develop a worksheet for the seminar with a simplified grading-grid and corresponding prompt questions to ensure constructive alignment. This could be used or developed by students across the remaining student-run seminars.  

Pre-seminar task: You mentioned the benefits in the feedback resulting from my prior engagement with students work. A pre-seminar task could be incorporated to give the other students the same opportunity to familiarise themselves with their peers work before the session. This would provide context to the ideas discussed and enable them to come prepared with useful questions and comments.  

Scribe: It is really nice to hear that you thought the references where relevant and wide ranging. Your comment that you found yourself hoping that the students would go away and research them made me think of ways that could support this process. Writing down references, or having a student write down notes from the discussion, provides a list or resource for them to refer back to after the seminar.  

Teaching and supporting learning  

Encouraging reflection: You mentioned that there was a good balance of discussion about previous work as well as how to move their FMP forward. This made me reflect on something I thought that was very successful in your teaching session that I observed. You encouraged a student to establish links between previous works in order to surface or identify emerging themes and interests. I thought that this prompt to reflect on their practice and methods gave the student a clear task, whilst allowing them space to reflect on their practice to consider how to develop their current work.  

References 

Ballinger, G. J. (2002) ‘Bridging the gap between A Level and degree: some observations on managing the transitional stage in the study of English Literature.’ Arts and Humanities in Higher Education, 2(1), pp. 99-109.  

Brooks, K. (2008) ‘Could do better? Students’ Critique of Written Feedback’, Networks, 5, pp. 1-5. 

Contextual Background  

As a tutor on the CCW Foundation Painting course, we assess students at the end of each term. These assessments are done via an online platform called Workflow. Students use Workflow as a diary like construct to track their progress, write down their thoughts on their work, the artists they have researched and submit images of their work onto this platform. It works as both a diary and a portfolio and is used to assess and grade students’ work. 

Evaluation 

Tutorials 

So as a tutor, my day-to-day role mainly revolves around one-to-one tutorials with students, discussing their work, listening to them consider their current position in their journey and offering any relevant reference points and feedback. 

As such, feedback is exchanged in this way on a weekly basis outside of the assessment zone. The feedback exchanged during these tutorials is focused on the students’ thinking and work, in other words, I do not base this feedback on the Assessment Criteria.   

I concentrate my teaching on the personal and individual development of the student. I feel this is my ideological position as a teacher. I am more interested in and feel it is far more beneficial to concentrate on the student as a person, a learner and a maker and feel that this is how to get students most engaged with the course, their making and their own internal worlds. I also fully believe that when students are engaged in this way, then they always end up hitting the marking criteria.  

For example, one of the marking criteria that we assess is Research and Context. For this I ask students to look at a minimum of three artists per unit. I offer up artists and current exhibitions in each tutorial for them to go away and research. Prior to assessment I email students asking them to ensure that their artist research is not a bibliography or Wikipedia style entry on the artist, I ask them to have discussed how the artist interests them, how they see their own work in relation to the artist and what they would like to borrow from that artists way of working. This increases engagement with the art world around them, makes connections from their work to the outside art world and puts their research into a high marking category. 

In my opinion engagement is the key to learning, building worlds and to grading. 

Assessments 

For assessments, I again try and do this in an informal way where possible. For example, I will often grade students work with them present at the end of assessment in Part 1 and Part 2 of the Foundation course. I feel this gives a transparent understanding of the marking criteria and allows the student to participate “if formative assessment is exclusively in the hands of teachers, then it is difficult to see how students can become empowered and develop the self-regulation skills needed to prepare them for learning outside university and throughout life” 1 

End of course grading 

For Part 3, which is the final course grading, a different tutor grades my tutees’ work. Before this, I will go through students Workflow submission two or three weeks before the submission deadline. This gives students the chance to see where they are and what they may need to improve if, for example, they are applying to a course that requires a specific grade e.g. the Slade Fine Art BA course. 

Moving Forwards 

Consideration for changes on my current approach to assessment 

I think my own more informal approach works well for students who are engaged on the course, however, for the less engaged or for those struggling with issues such as language barriers, I think a more formal approach to assessment may be beneficial. For these students, I am planning to print out a Checklist which will detail things such as the number of references or artists research required per unit to attain certain grades as I think sometimes this information can get lost over email or verbal communication. 

In addition to this, I will keep in mind Seven principles of good feedback practice: facilitating self-regulation as proposed by Nicol David and Debra Macfarlane-Dick. 

What are we preparing students for? 

As a tutor on a painting course, I am aware that there is no definitive outcome from a painting course, other than becoming an artist and finding a job that probably has little relevance to your art practice but supports it financially, or if you’re lucky a job in academia.  

As such my concerns as a tutor on the painting course are for the student as an individual person and fostering their connection to their work. Having said that, I think there is a real gap in how students are prepared for the art world once they graduate – how to show your work, how to seek out collaborators, make funding applications, how to negotiate with galleries. I think this would be a useful workshop to run for students, but I also think it would be more relevant for BA or MA students. 

Changes to assessment 

One thing I want to see grading and assessment criteria consider is the learning that a student has done on the course. Students do not start off on an even footing as we all come from different backgrounds and contexts. For example, a home student does not have the same number of obstacles to overcome as an overseas student, namely: moving to a new country, often learning a new language, being in a new education system etc. This one some level de-personalises marking, which is good for impartiality, but I feel there should be some kind of allowance or awareness for this. 

Perhaps there could be an additional or separate grading matrix that considers this? 

At CCW we also have external markers from different courses marking students’ work e.g. a tutor from graphic design marks the work of a painting student and this is used to verify the mark given by the painting student. This is beneficial in terms of creating impartiality, but at some level it negates tacit knowledge which is a vital component for any artist to have. For example, in painting, the medium of paint and how you use paint contains many subtle languages that can be easily missed, this experiential knowledge is important to the act of making and it should not be “‘crushed or stubbed out by an over-emphasis on explicit knowledge”2.  

Paint itself is a language and how a student uses paint can convey an awareness of art movement and show their contextual awareness and learning of this. As “human learning is constructed – learners must actively engage in constructing meaning from learning experiences – actively make sense of new knowledge and integrate this knowledge with previously held understandings”3. This cognition of and engagement with the world is an active, social and embodied process which is fundamental to learning. 

Whilst it is important to try and create a marking system that eliminates aesthetic preferences or taste, a markers interpretation of the language used in grading matrix’s is always going to be subjective “Staff interpret the meaning of words such as ‘synthesis’ or ‘analysis’ differently from individual to individual”4. 

As such, I think a better solution is needed – perhaps internal verification should be done by tutors working together e.g. marking to be done side by side with a tutor working within that specialism and a tutor not working in that specialism. In an ideal scenario “the shared experiences of marking and moderation among staff can support the dissemination of tacit knowledge, resulting in more standardized marking”5. 

over time. 

Perhaps the future is AI marking? 

Teaching ideology 

I think the Workshops and this Case Study have brought into focus my own personal views on Assessment and Grading systems. It has made me more aware of my own “politics” or ideological views around what we are doing as teachers in an art college, and I think this really differs from course to course. And it brings into focus the question: what are we preparing our students for? 

My focus is on supplying the student with enough stimulus: artists to look at, theorists to read, exhibitions to go and discussion around their work so that they become deeply engaged in their own making. Ideally, I would like to enable students on Foundation to sew the first seeds of their own lifelong journey in discovering and making visible their own personal language. 

As Sidney J Harris says “the purpose of education is to turn mirrors into windows”6. 

References 

1. Boud, D. Sustainable assessment: rethinking assessment for the learning society, Studies in Continuing Education, 2000, page 155 

2. O’Donovan, Berry, Price, Margaret and Rust, Chris, ‘Know what I mean? Enhancing student understanding of assessment standards and criteria, Teaching in Higher Education, 2004, page 237 

3. O’Donovan, Berry, Price, Margaret and Rust, Chris, ‘Know what I mean? Enhancing student understanding of assessment standards and criteria, Teaching in Higher Education, 2004, page 329 

4. Baumard, Phillipe, Tacit knowledge in organizations (London, Sage Publications), 1999, page 110 

5. O’Donovan, Berry, Price, Margaret and Rust, Chris, ‘Know what I mean? Enhancing student understanding of assessment standards and criteria, Teaching in Higher Education, 2004, page 330 

6. https://www.antarcticajournal.com/sydney-j-harris-quote-the-whole-purpose-of-education/ 

Accessed on 10 March 2024 

Bibliography 

Baumard, Phillipe, Tacit knowledge in organizations (London, Sage Publications), 1999 

Boud, D. Sustainable assessment: rethinking assessment for the learning society, Studies in Continuing Education, 2000 

O’Donovan, Berry , Price, Margaret and Rust, Chris, ‘Know what I mean? Enhancing student understanding of assessment standards and criteria, Teaching in Higher Education, 2004 

Nicol, David J. and Macfarlane-Dick, Debra, Formative assessment and self-regulated learning: a model and seven principles of good feedback practice’, Studies in Higher Education, 2006 

Learning Outcomes and Assessment Objectives

We started off by discussing a series of Aphorisms:

1)Education is not preparation for life; education is life itself (John Dewey)

2)School is the advertising agency which makes you believe that you need the society as it is (Ivan Dominic Illich)

3)The classroom remains the most radical space of possibility in the academy. Education does not change the world (bell hooks)

4) Education changes people. People change the world (Paulo Friere)

5) The learning process is something you can incite, literally incite, like a riot (Auder Lorde)

These quotes quickly made the table discuss which quotes/statements we disliked and liked. It was fun how quickly this became an ideological discussion on what kind of teachers we want to be and what kind of learners we want to shape.

In many ways our discussions where shaped around the courses we teach and the industries for which we are preparing students to go into. For example Design or Architecture tutors are preparing students for a competitive industry where students are vying for careers within these industries with actual jobs. Whereas on a Fine Art course, tutors are preparing students to go on and become artists…these are very different things and require different styles of teaching and learning.

With this in mind, Learning Outcomes and Assessment Criteria have a different level of importance for differing courses. I am unsure how I feel about them. I do not think that I am interested in teaching to LO’s and AC’s but I do believe that grading serves as an incentive for students to work hard, and I believe that students that engage with the course and their work should be rewarded. At the same time, I would want my students to hit these grading matrixes as a consequence of engaging with their work and their inner worlds.

When looking at the grading matrixes, one of the things that stood out for me was that engagement was not a marked criteria on the course. This led to an interesting discussion around how education should not hold back students that are not able to commit to being physically in class. I do however think that engagement in Painting or any other Fine Art course can be perceived through the engagement a student has with the material/s that they are using. When painting, how paint is handle can sign post to the reader, the maker awareness of certain movements and tropes. Perhaps there could be an additional marking grid for material and contextual engagement?

There was also an interesting discussion around how grading could be stemming students experimentation and creativit.

During the work shop, we also discussed how the grading systems does not take into account where a student has started from – we do not mark how much a student has journeyed in their learning, only where the land amongst everyone. It feels as though this does not sit within my ideological framework as a teacher.

This brought into my mind what my teaching goals and ideology are:

To create life long learners

To help students find their own personal language

I would like a new marking/grading system to consider:

The engagement a student has with their own practice

To take into account the journey that a student has been on to arrive where they are.

Contextual Background 

As a tutor on the CCW Foundation Painting course, I often come across a wide range of students. For this case study, I will focus on how I plan to support students that I believe may fail the course 

Evaluation 

This is my second academic year of teaching on Foundation, and I have encountered a few tutees that I have immediately had concerns about whether they would pass the course. The reasons for these concerns have predominantly been student engagement and ability to learn: 

• Students entering the college with below the required level of English (recruited from outside of UAL) 
• Students encountering a new teaching model or style. For example, I often have students from an Eastern background who are used to a more practical/technical arts education which is not something that is offered in the same way at CCW and this can mean that these students do not hit all the required Learning Outcomes and Assessment Criteria’s. For example, I had a student that made fantastic anatomical drawings but did not experiment with trying a variety of mediums or styles of working. 
• Students with learning challenges such as ADHD 

My aim is to find ways to make learning more accessible for these students, to support them to engage with the course materials/projects and with their own internal worlds. 

Moving Forwards 

Personal connection 

One of the ways that I would like to do this is by finding what makes the individual student “tick”, what makes up their own personal worlds – what are they interested in – what music do they listen to, what films/tv programs, where are they coming from (where is home/family), what work have they made previously that they are proud of etc. It is also important to note that we are all connected, if an international student is struggling, then this too will affect home students as Louise Hill and Maria Hussain say: 

“If international students are having difficulties, then other students will possibly experience the same.  Thus, by improving conditions for international learners, everyone will reap the benefits.” 

It is important to foster awareness that they we are all connected to one another, as Paul Crowther states: 

“We are bonded to the world and other people in a way which draws on all aspects of our embodied historical existence. This experience is integrative” 

Diversifying references offered for students from outside of the EU

One of the ways that I plan to better connect with overseas students is by diversifying the references that I offer. Through this I would hope to be able to find more points of connection and to offer up a less Western centric model of teaching. I want to offer up more artists from Eastern contexts for example. I am doing this by learning more about non western makers and making a conscious effort to find, visit and offer to all my students contemporary galleries showing young artists from non western backgrounds. For example during recent tutorials, I was able to offer up the following current shows to students: Yu Ji at Sadie Coles, Yoko Matsumoto at White Cube and the current Union Pacific group show featuring Aya Higuchi, Shana Hoehn, Koak and Hikari Ono and of course Yoko Ono at the Tate Modern.

Offering different ways of learning to students with diverse needs

I have recently been working a with a student who has ADHD. This student struggles to read long texts and also finds it a challenge to follow through on ideas and to finish work.

I did some online research and found that learning via video was beneficial for those with ADHD. Since then instead of offering up books or texts, I suggest this student watches artists interviews from websites such as The Tate YouTube and MOMA Youtube. These Youtube channels are a really helpful and engaging resource that I will offer to all of my students.

Organisational and administrative support 

I often find that the students that are on the threshold of a pass/fail are the students that have the most difficulty tracking course deadlines, knowing what is required of them for their Workflow (the online platform used for submitting your work) and what the assessment criteria is.

Moving forwards, I will continue to always check that students are aware of these dates and have checked their emails etc.  

I am also going to start summarising tutorials via email for students with language difficulties and also sending them questions or points of discussion via email around their work before tutorials. I will see if this is helpful and allows the students and me to have better communication or if this adversely increases the pressure on both myself and the students.

Clarifying learning and assessment criteria 

With students that are not in this pass/fail threshold, I do not concentrate directly on LO/AC outside of the Feeback sessions as I preference personal learning and growth over hitting marking schemes and feel that if a student is connected with the work they are making, this happens along the way. However, I think the LOs/AC is something which I will integrate more with students that may fail the course. 

One of the ways that I will do this is by incorporating a clearly worded TPP checklist that I will go through with students to check and to ensure that students are aware of the LO’s and AC to engage with so they can also take control of their own learning and grading. I will used the UAL: Reducing referrals and submissions template as a guide for making my own and I will also run my own Making the grade workshop 3 weeks prior to the next submission deadline to check how students are coming along with things such as their workflow submissions.

Peer learning 

When a student encounters a language barrier, I also want to encourage other students who speak the same language to help. This will encourage peer-learning and help students connect with one another and foster a learning environment.

This is also known as the Collaborative Learning Theory which comes from Lev Vygotsky’s Zone of Proximal Development. Vygotsky advocates that learners who work together can complete tasks together that they would not complete individually. This creates connections between students, preventing students from becoming isolated and makes the studio a place of community and shared learning. 

References 

Paul Crowther, Critical Aesthetics and Postmodernism, Oxford, Clarendon Press, 1996, page 20   

Louise Hill and Maria Hussain, Creating a ‘sense of belonging’ for international students through intercultural Personal Tutoring: https://www.ukat.ac.uk/community/ukat-blog/posts/2021/february/creating-a-sense-of-belonging-for-international-students-through-intercultural-personal-tutoring, accessed 2 March 2023 

Lev Vygotsky, Thought and Language, MIT Press, 1986 

Bibliography 

Decolonising Language and the Multilingual University, University of the Arts London, 9^th March: available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0oltALaTbQM 

Terry Finnigan, UAL: Reducing referrals and submissions, University of the Arts London, 10th March: available at: https://www.arts.ac.uk/__data/assets/pdf_file/0021/190155/AEM-Reducing-referrals-PDF-304KB.pdf

Nicol, David J. and Macfarlane-Dick, Debra, Formative assessment and self-regulated learning: a model and seven principles of good feedback practice, Studies in Higher Education, pages 199 – 218, 2006

Contextual Background 

For this case study, I am going to focus on how gather and communicate the contextual reference points that I offer to students and how I prepare for running short courses. I am going to consider how I deal with uncertainty as tutor and how I can change my relationship to it. 

Evaluation 

My experience as an HPL has been really rewarding and I feel that I have a good connection and understanding with my students. I feel confident working in my role as a Tutor on the Camberwell Foundation course.

However a short course tutor I feel less confident and more anxious. This is in part the added pressure of being the only teacher on the course and also the multitudes of uncertainties that come with short courses. One of the difficulties I find is the uncertainty around what the level and knowledge of students on the course will be.  

I find this unknowable makes it hard for me to plan the level at which I offer my contextual references e.g. for an abstract painting course, do I offer up Mark Rothko or Thomas Nozkowski?  

In many ways for me this is a question about accessibility and engagement. It is also a task for my self, to work on being okay with uncertainty in my teaching practice and to be able to be relaxed enough and trust in myself to adjust, in the moment, my teaching and contextual sources according to the levels of my students. 

Moving Forwards 

PowerPoint presentations: language used and visuals 

I often use PowerPoint as a resource for my short courses to offer up an overview and context of artists working in a particular field. These PowerPoints include images of the artist, basic facts about the artists, images of the artists’ work, and writing on what the artist is doing with their work that I think is relevant to the course and of interest to the students.  

I think I often over prepare for the short courses and try to load too much information into these presentations. This is through a combination of wanting to feel confident in what I am offering and to try and control the uncertainty I feel running a course. I think it is also important to give space and time for students to sit with something, for it to gestate and for the students to begin to internalise their learning: I guess you could call it thinking space, as Dana Weeks says: 

“Offering opportunities for students to sit without distraction helps them absorb content and remember it and think about additional questions. They can process the feelings and ideas expressed by their peers and consider the importance of other perspectives.” (Weeks, 2018)1 

I would like to build in more time for students on the short courses that I run to have space between receiving information and making. A space for thinking and pondering. This space as Alerby and Elídóttir say: “it is in the silent reflection that our thoughts take shape and make the experience into learning”2 (2003, p.46, cited in Fox-Eades, 2015). 

On a more basic and practical/less holistic level, I often refer to art movements and particular terminology which is specific to the field of painting or art. Going forwards, I will make a conscious effort to always explain any terminology verbally, practically (through making/technical demonstration) if necessary and to also offer out a printed glossary of terms that are used. 

Demonstrations of technical skills 

I think there is also the potential for students to be intimidated by some of the work they see in these PowerPoints. I have recently experimented by offering more practical demonstrations on how to handle/use paint to get certain effects.  

Whilst I may have felt self-conscious and unsure of myself whilst performing these demonstrations, I think it was useful for students to see this and to de-mystify the act of making and perhaps break down some barriers in place with the teacher/student dynamic. 

Going forward, I will offer more practical demonstrations of how to use different painting techniques e.g. impasto, transparency, opacity, pouring, flicking etc. And to continue to always encourage students to test out different ways of mark making and to not worry about the outcome. 

My own experience as a learner and maker 

I think my own experience as a maker has shown me that when I make my “best” work, I am not thinking about the outcome, instead I am invested in my connections with the materials that I am using. 

I hope to create space for students to feel free from their own self judgement and any outside criticality and to feel able to create and investigate their own, individual ways of making and languaging their inner worlds. Weeks states: 

“Listening without anticipating and articulating an immediate response provides space for understanding ideas, perspectives, and experiences that may differ from one’s own. In this way, deep listening and silent reflection can help eliminate fear, bridge perceived divisions between individuals, and serve to support conflict resolution.” (Weeks, 2018) 

I think making more space for contemplation will allow students to feel less pressure to perform, to promote a less call and response situation. There will be less of a demand to show that they are attentive learners, which may allow students more time for introspection or gestation – of journeying through ideas in their own, internal worlds. This should then lead to greater personal engagement and self-directed learning with will lead to my main teaching goal: to enable life long learning for students.

References 

Weeks, D. (2018) ‘The value of silence in schools’. Available at: https://www.edutopia.org/article/value-silence-schools/ 

(Accessed: 28 February 2024). 

Fox Eades, J. (2015) ‘Silence and stillness in the classroom’. Available at: https://jennyfoxeades.com/2015/02/12/silence-and-stillness-in-the-classroom/ 

 (Accessed: 28 February 2024) 

For the micro teaching session, I had a very lengthy mental block/mild existential crisis on what I was going to do and only really fully formulated my lesson plan the night before. I ended up deciding to facilitate a life drawing session with objects. 

When planning this, I was aware of how few activities I could fit into the 20-minute session so decided to go with just four drawing exercises, this meant I had to leave out a few exercises I would have liked to include. 

I brought in a bag of objects that I use for my short courses (things such as seashells, a corn on the cob that had dried out, a plastic plane and a small fake plastic tree etc. These were not inspired by Thom Yorke or Radiohead.) 

I went with the following four exercises: 

Task 1 was “blind drawing”. 

For this activity, I asked students if they felt comfortable wearing a blindfold to select the object from a bag, I would hold out for them. Most people seemed happy to do this, and it felt like a good tension breaker (just for me probably) to navigate the selection of objects. 

I then asked students to draw the objects, whilst keeping their blindfold on or keeping their eyes closed. 

This exercise was of course about freeing up relationships with drawing by not looking at the object, but instead recording the experience of how the object feels. 

The aim of this is to draw how your object feels, allowing for senses other than your visual perception to take over. I feel this exercise is a useful tool for students (in particular on foundation) to help students to engage with their own making, to not compare their work with others and to hopefully relieve the pressures one’s critical self-places on making something look representationally accurate or “good” whatever that means. 

Task 2 was drawing without looking at the page. Another exercise aimed at relinquishing control and self-criticism. I wanted this task to help students to experience the object through looking and recording the experience of looking through drawing again without having full control on the outcome

Task 3: Observational drawing. I asked students to look at their object as if they were a tiny insect moving across the surface. I thought that this more traditional drawing exercise would be a relief for students. I think it was the exercise people had the least engagement with.

Most people felt that their other drawings ended up being more interesting than this more traditional one. Whilst this task was less “successful” in its engagement, I think its purpose was to bring awareness to less traditional ways of thinking about drawing or making. I also think the openness and sophistication of making/thinking of the group played a role in this experience. 

Task 4: Drawing from memory. For this final task, I asked students to turn their back on the object and draw it from memory. I wanted to place this one last after students had tried out the previous tasks which had given access/opened up other ways of thinking about drawing and making. It felt like it was a middle ground of control and journeying.

Take aways 

I think I learnt quite a few things during the micro teaching for my own teaching practice. I find it really useful to have feedback from the other teachers. I noticed during the tasks that quite a few people finished drawing within the time set. At the time, I assumed the session was a bit of a car crash, but when discussing afterwards, everyone was really positive and engaged and interested in the session. Obviously, everyone was being very kind and positive with one another, but it did make me feel more confident in my lesson planning and to not assume that someone is not enjoying themselves/is not engaged if they finish early. This is a very simple thing, but quite a big one for me. 

On reflection, I think the blindfolded drawing task holds up a mirror for me to the spaces that I want my teaching practice to open up for students. To help students gain access and connection to their inner worlds, to journey through one’s self to language our own voice. And crucially to create an environment where students have the confidence to not censor what comes up when they try to access this. The end goal being to set students on their own path to create their own personal structures and languages that will keep them engaged outside of education. 

I also really loved having a micro window into other people’s worlds and teaching practices. The variety of ways of teaching and subject matter was really inspiring. For my own teaching practice, I think Flo’s session really struck a chord with me. I really enjoyed it and it felt like we spent most of the time having fun and playing and it was great to engage with people in this way. It made me think of how important play is in making and in life and how we can test out different parts of ourselves in games and role play. I would like to find the confidence in my own teaching practice to incorporate more games and more play, after all play is a serious thing!

Having read the What is contemplative pedagogy? and listened to the A Short Introduction to Contemplative Pedagogy, I felt that the Drawing Lab text by Michelle Salomon was a good fit for considering how develop students thinking in an experiential way. Additionally, as someone who runs Short Courses for UAL, it was interesting to choose a text that was based around workshops. Likewise, as the Life Drawing tutor for Camberwell Foundation, I was interested to see how the text would define drawing. 

The aim of these workshops was to test how memory and drawing relate and how the activity of drawing can operate outside of a standard curriculum. The text considers the writings of de Boisbaudran and John Berger’s seminal text On Drawing. It posits drawing as live encounter and a living recording of memory and sets out to: 

“demonstrate another function of drawing, as a scientific, forensic tool used for probing and searching for answers” 

Spark: UAL Creative Teaching and Learning Journal Salamon 2018 page 132 

I was also interested in how the text considered the role emotions and time have on how we remember 

“The muscle memory created by the act of drawing becomes physical, the drawing itself becomes an output, yet the making process leaves a mental imprint. The experience of making a drawing becomes part of the experience of remembering and so, combines the act of remembering with the raw memory.” 

Spark: UAL Creative Teaching and Learning Journal Salamon 2018 page 134 

In particular when it comes to drawing, the line within a drawing hold emotional resonance and has the potential to communicate the feeling of a moment or memory more precisely than words. 

The text also considers the effect mobile devices have on the value of memories for millennials. This is of course something that has to be considered for teachers in how we gather and display information. Perhaps the process of making a drawing can be a counter point to this… 

The workshop applied a variety of methods to examine this: muscle memory, remote viewing, suggestibility and recall. 

“Feedback from students indicates that these activities support them to develop techniques for achieving higher levels of concentration, leading to enhancements in memory, imagination, intelligence, and feeling.”

Spark: UAL Creative Teaching and Learning Journal Salamon 2018 page 139 

The workshops and paper conclude that drawing is undervalued and underused in our curriculum and does indeed help to spark imagination and creativity in students and unlike virtual devices, can help students to remember the experiential feeling of a memory. Long sentence. 

References

Michelle Salamon, Spark: UAL Creative Teaching and Learning Journal, Drawing laboratory: Research workshops and outcomes, 2018 

An a/r/tographic métissage: Storying the self as pedagogic practice

So for our first lesson we all had some reading homework. I was asked to read and make notes on: “An a/r/tographic métissage: Storying the self as pedagogic practice”. Initially I must confess I was somewhat put off by my need to google half of the words in the title. I was also quite intrigued…like reading a press release that is so far up it’s own bottom that you can’t stop reading it and then find it appears to bear no relationship to the work you are looking at 🙂

In the opening paragraph, the text proposes:

“how the introspective and extrospective interact with the visual or performative as a vehicle for revealing the self, this article posits that the self-in-relation to theory and practice becomes a way of knowing that broadens educational discourse among artists/researchers/teachers.”

Upon reading this, my initial “teaching hat” thought was, that as a native English speaker, I was struggling with the language being used and felt that it would be prohibitive for a large number of people… for my own brain, I felt like the terminology/language being used was getting in the way of what was being said. This made me think about how it can often be tricky preparing slideshows for Short Courses, not knowing the level of student I am going to be working with and how important accessible language is in communicating with your reader/student. And teaching on Foundation, with many students coming to London for the first time, learning English, how incredibly challenging that must be.

The text offers up the stories of four a/r/tographers and proposes that a fifth narrative emerges. As someone who is interested in ideas around the non-self and the possibilities/ownerships of “narratives”, this interested me:

“stories are understood as fragmented, in perpetual states of becoming, representative of many and sometimes conflicting voices, and complex in their multiple layers and connections”

This quote rings true for me and opens up ideas around experience being conditional, temporary and open to change. It makes me think of metamodernism and Dylan’s “don’t speak too soon, for the wheel’s still in spin”. It also makes me think of experience as being communal rather than individual and how as teacher, I would hope to create the conditions for my students to be working as individuals as part of a community, crossing ideas with one another. To discover ideas about one’s work and one’s sense of self in a way that is connected to those around us and that this sense of self is not static but is constantly regenerating and transformative to how we experience the world.

References

Trish Osler, Isabelle Guillard. Arianna Garcia-Fialdini, Sandrine Cote, An a/r/tographic métissage: Storying the self as pedagogic practice, Journal of Writing in Cretive Practice, 2019